The moment when a staff member leaves or an influx of new work hits a business is usually the time it reduces to panic stations in an attempt to replace or cater. It is this panic, though, that breeds poor hiring decisions, as they are based on nothing but a simple concept of “they will do”.

“They Will Do” is code for simplistic and pretty much baseless decisions – they look good, speak well, seem to have some of the skills…and they are there. They are hired in an instant, usually forgoing the rudimentary background checks, and are thrust into the role

…and it is then that the business realizes it has made a bit of an error.

As per Hiring Mistake #10, the skills check out fine, but there is insufficient details on the fit. Therefore the whole hiring process is compromised as it was not fully completed. Likewise, the employee is generally put into the role, given a list of tasks that they may need some skills-updating on, has no proper hand-over or orientation, and is promptly placed on the back-foot. Putting a new employee on the back-foot so early into their role spells danger for any business, as that new employee becomes more and more disillusioned and more and more likely to look for a fast exit…and the business finds it is back to square one once again.

Hiring is something that cannot be done quickly, or with a number of short-cuts. It has to be done carefully. Whether it is to replace a staff member or to cater to increased workloads, no amount of time saving by a quick-fire hire will replace the time required to re-do the hire because the first or second or subsequent hires didn’t work out.

Business cannot afford to run around screaming “I need a new employee NOW!”, because it is the best way to ensure the end result is a failed hiring process and a bad hire. When we panic, all logic seems to desert us. Francis P. Cholle, in Psychology Today says that “Panic often leads to drastic decision making, throwing a holistic solution right out the window”. When you have a situation that needs to be solved, sense and consideration must be at the forefront. Hiring, particularly, requires a level head and clear mind – panic or stress offers neither.

Finally, when you consider that a bad hire can cost a business anywhere from 30% to 5 times the annual salary of that hire, it can end up being a significant cost to the business on the basis of one, incredibly careless hiring decisions stemmed from panic.